An open letter to nib Newcastle Knights members and fans by Mitchell Pearce.
It’s almost a year to the day when I led the team onto McDonald Jones stadium for the first time. It’s funny, because it only feels like it was yesterday.
Thinking about the roar of the crowd is giving me goose bumps. I’ve never felt so proud.
To captain this team means so much to me.
Since the day I arrived in Newcastle, I was welcomed with open arms.
I’m often stopped in the street for a chat, a high-five or a simple thumbs up from a supporter driving by as I head to the shops.
This community gets behind the team.
You support your players and you have supported me. I can’t thank you enough.
It sounds cliché but I really do take pride in pulling on the red and blue jersey.
I love wearing the No.7. It’s the same jersey my idol Andrew Johns once wore.
I have the honour of leading this team out of the same tunnel my hero’s once ran out of. This is a club with a rich and proud history. None of that is lost on me.
I can speak for the team when I tell you that we will be doing everything we can to make you proud of us this season.
We will give it our all.
There’s a saying this team trains by and plays by. It’s ‘be the player everyone wants to play with’.
Not only do I want to be the player my teammates want to play with, but I want to be the captain they want to play for.
